The key Indian equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty50 -- discarded losses and closed at record highs with modest gains on Thursday riding on the back of optimism over the upcoming quarterly earnings result season, as well as healthy buying in IT, Teck and realty stocks.IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be the first blue-chip company which will come out with its third quarter results on Thursday, followed by Infosys on Friday.The wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) scaled a new high of 10,664.60 points during intra-day trade.On a closing basis, the index edged higher by 19 points or 0.18 per cent to 10,651.20 points.The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed above the 34,500-level at 34,503.49 points -- up 70.42 points or 0.20 per cent -- from its previous session's close.The Sensex had scaled a fresh intra-day high of 34,565.63 points on Wednesday.On Thursday, the BSE market breadth was bullish as 1,594 stocks advanced as compared to 1,340 declines."Markets inched up higher on Thursday to end with modest gains after consolidating in the last few sessions. Volatility increased in the afternoon session after a rangebound session in the morning," Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS."The Sensex closed at a record high at 34,503 -- above 34,500 level.
Even the Nifty closed at a record high," Jasani said.In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index closed higher by 0.27 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.41 per cent.Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said: "Indian market bounced back from the initial indecisiveness, with surging mid-caps continuing to reflect earnings optimism, and rupee recouping some yesterday's (Wednesday) losses."On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by seven paise to close at 63.66 against the US dollar from its previous close at 63.59.Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 623.63 crore, while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 770.02 crore."As key macros are to be released tomorrow (Friday), gains however were limited with markets also eyeing GST committee meeting on removing capital market transactions from exempt supplies or turnover category," James added.The Consumer Price Index inflation data for December and Index of Industrial Production data for November will be announced on January 12. "Buying was observed in realty, telecom, Teck, utilities, industrial and FMCG sectors ahead of announcement of key corporate results," Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS.
"Mild profit-booking witnessed in oil and gas and energy segments," said Desai.Sectorwise, the S&P BSE IT index rose by 97.19 points, followed by realty index by 54.94 points and Teck index by 47.36 points.On the other hand, the S&P BSE consumer durables index declined by 61.59 points, oil and gas index by 47 points and capital goods index by 32.62 points.Major Sensex gainers on Thursday were: Infosys, up 2.28 per cent at Rs 1,075.60; Bharti Airtel, up 1.66 per cent at Rs 514.75; Kotak Bank, up 1.61 per cent at Rs 1,017.85; Asian Paints, up 0.97 per cent at Rs 1,188.85; and Hindustan Unilever, up 0.91 per cent at Rs 1,379.Major Sensex losers were: IndusInd Bank, down 2.08 per cent at Rs 1,698.60; Wipro, down 1.53 per cent at Rs 321.05; ICICI Bank, down 0.82 per cent at Rs 309.45; Axis Bank, down 0.76 per cent at Rs 558.25; and Hero MotoCorp, down 0.70 per cent at Rs 3,706.